It’s pretty clear that @OwenJones84 and I have had some very big, very heated arguments about various foreign & domestic policy issues on this website. We are clearly adversaries and there is no love lost between us. But seeing his name trend on Twitter once a week is mortifying.

Some of the abuse he’s subjected to is sickening. I have suffered a mere fraction of that level of personal targeting & it has often had a profound impact on my mental health. If my platform is worth anything at all, it is worth condemning targeted abuse, even towards adversaries

Owen and I will almost certainly sit in opposing political camps, and may well vehemently disagree with each other until the end of time. But if it takes one of his opponents to say this then so be it - people need to dial down the viciousness. It’s unhealthy and scary to behold.

This isn’t a message of solidarity or a call for a ceasefire, it’s a message from one opponent to the people that follow me. Please dial down the rhetoric, please choose more respectful ways to express dissent. We’re all human and we have a duty of care for others.

I know I am partly responsible for the behaviour of my followers, so if I have any influence at all, I urge my followers to act with more compassion, even if you feel it isn’t deserved. Britain is a nation divided that desperately needs healing, we are all responsible for that.

For my own part, I need to acknowledge that my rhetoric has at times fallen beneath the standards I expect of myself. For that, @owenjones84, I apologise. I hope we can continue to disagree in the future free from the viciousness destroying nearly all of us on this website.

I’m not looking to start a debate on this or discuss the merits of who did or said what, I am looking towards a more hopeful future, not one in which people who agree on 90% of political issues pointlessly continue to tear lumps out of each other. I can only start with me.